Singapore Day 4: Singlish and all that

Singlish is the combination of English with Singapore's other languages (Tamil, Mandarin, and Malay). Listen and see if you can understand it (click here).

It took W and me a few trips to become more fluent in understanding. Sometimes we find ourselves copying the rhythms. (Singaporeans use "is it?" or "lah" at the end of sentences, where Canadians would use, "right?" and Americans would say, "huh.")

I spent most of yesterday in the flat, studying and working on next week's courses. Most of my students are not the evangelism interns, as I'd assumed. Instead, they're Masters- and a few Bachelor-level students who will be writing serious papers. Glad I asked! That's a totally different level of teaching. Bracing myself by reviewing texts I used to write my dissertation.

Muji motto: simplicity,
efficiency, and functionality

W and I caught supper at Tampines Mall: Cheryl took N there for a swim (except the pool was closed for renovations, which are frequent in this upscale land). I picked a wonton soup #7 ... which turned out to be a bowl of good broth, some thin noodles, and 3 small wontons. Hmmm. Tasty, but not what I thought I was getting. W chose rice and chicken. His stomach isn't being very cooperative. (Mine seems to be happy.)

I found the Muji dot notebooks I'd read about in a NY blog - at the Muji store in the mall. We were in a rush to catch a ride home, so I'll have to go back and see what else they carry. They seemed to have a lot of cool Japanese things.

It hailed for the first time in years on the west side of the island; that was the big news of the night. We went to bed early and W crashed at 8: I read until 10.

This morning, I finally went in to work at the school - while W and his class kept on working. After a tea (Tee O - tea with sugar) with girlfriends at Mr. Prata, I wandered over to the main eating area for break-time with W and his group. I wasn't really hungry and the noodles and long beans (green beans) were not great. (Not bad, just not the stellar food we often eat here.) It will keep me until supper.

The CRS (shrimp) aquarium store wasn't open but I had a nice chat with the owner. I'll go back to see what they carry when I take a break.